Domestic milk intake up 22.2% in April

Domestic milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers was estimated at 694.9 million litres for April 2014. This was 22.2% above the corresponding 2013 figure according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Comparing the April 2014 milk produce figures, with those for April 2013, the total milk sold for human consumption decreased by 10.7% to 35.9 million litres while, butter production was down 3.6% to 16,000 tonnes.

UK daily milk intake for the two weeks ending 24/05/2014 averaged 42.9m litres/day, 2.9m litres/day (7.3%) higher than the same period last year.

This is according to DairyCo which also notes that daily milk intake for this period were 2.6m (6.4%) higher compared with the three-year average.

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The increase comes despite off a cold snap over the May period which saw production fall off.

DairyCo also notes that the top six EU milk-producing countries (France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and the UK) saw their collective production increase by just over 3% in the 2013/14 milk year, compared to 2012/13.

Eurostat figures show that Germany, Netherlands, Poland all saw record milk production. Conditions for EU farmers were favourable for the majority of 2013/14 with high milk prices, lower input costs and improved weather, although some countries will be subject to superlevy.
Source: DairyCo